His Second Chance Mate

Chapter 6

24th May, 2021

“Huh?”

A week had passed in the blink of an eye and I was currently seated in a semi-comfortable bus, heading to the temple I'd dreamt of for weeks. I could hardly believe it myself. Maybe, I was still dreaming? Almost painfully, I peeled my eyes off the window to look at my best friend.

Katie stared at me with eyes full of reproach. “Have you even been listening to a single word I’ve said?”

“Ummmmm, no?” I answered hesitantly. Both Katie and I knew that I was a million miles away, so attempting to lie was of no use anyway.

Though, obviously, I’d never ever lie to my best friend. Like never.

I grinned sheepishly. “Sorry?”

Katie shook her head in disappointment and turned to look at the front.

“What were you thinking about so seriously anyway?”

To be totally honest, I actually had no idea. What had I been thinking about?

I shrugged. “I don’t exactly remember.” I grimaced. Katie huffed at my answer.

“Fine, keep your secrets then. f**k!”

She had been trying to be sarcastic but failed. Badly.

I had gasped at the sudden jolt, but broke into laughter at Katie’s expletive. I’d lost count but that probably was the twentieth time Katie had cursed since today morning. And it was barely nine in the morning.

“I’m going to kill that driver! Is he trying to break my back?” She growled.

That was also the twentieth death threat she’d issued since this morning as well. Though with the number of speed bumps he’d raced across, we’d all need chiropractor appointments when we went home.

“Keep your murderous thoughts to yourself please. I don’t want to be called as a witness to your murder trial.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’d either be the accomplice or the victim.”

I gasped with exaggerated shock. “You’d kill me?”

I gave her the puppy eyes treatment, but Katie remained unaffected.

“I’d be well within my rights, you know. You’ve been lost in your thoughts for most of the trip and it’s been almost two days in this stupid bus with a stupid driver who apparently don’t know what a f*****g speed bump is!”

She raised her voice at the end, though it was thankfully lost in the noise of the other five dozen teenagers in the bus. Still, she attempted to bore holes in the back of the driver’s head. I bit back a smile, instead deciding to annoy her out of her murderous thoughts.

“I told you we shouldn’t sit near the back. You can barely feel the speed bumps from the front.” I didn’t even try to take the I-told-you-so out of my voice.

Though, now that I think about it, maybe the back was better for us. Something told me that the driver would not look upon the many death threats that had been issued with a smile.

“Shut up, you little know-it-all. It’s still better than sitting at the front and feeling like everyone’s staring at you.”

I shrugged, not willing to admit that I agreed with her. Like the genius I am, I simply decided to change the topic.

“When’s the next rest stop? I really want to stretch my legs.”

Katie immediately started to bother the people near us- see, genius- asking about the rest stops, though I doubted anyone knew anyway. This was almost everyone’s first trip to the temple, seeing as most of us had only turned 18 this past year,

Basically every single graduate from our school was heading to the temple. The camping area had been booked ages ago and a few students had gone down a week early to make preparations. It was a bit surprising really, how much students could accomplish when they didn’t procrastinate.

While a few students had opted for their own transport, most of us decided on group transport- both because it was cheaper and better for the environment. Someone had chartered two travel buses. They had a 56 passenger capacity each.

All this was news to me though. For the last half year (approximately) I’d deliberately tuned out all news and plans for almost half a year, because I’d been so sure I wouldn’t get permission. Luckily, Katie talked to one of her seemingly infinite friends and confirmed both a seat and a tent space for me. One of girls who’d been assigned to Katie’s tent had even agreed to go to an emptier tent, which was something I was eternally grateful for.

While the buses were comfortable enough, there wasn’t enough place to walk around. It was probably pretty smelly at this point, though my nose had gotten used to it. We’d been driving for almost two days at this point- the two drivers switching out every few hours.

We’d stopped at loads of rest spots- for meals, mostly. I hadn’t showered for two days, which was the longest I’d ever gone without taking a shower. It felt almost illegal and I was enjoying the feeling. As long as I stayed with my parents, I knew I’d never be able to get away without showering.

All of a sudden, Katie whipped her head towards me. “3 hours, apparently.”

“Huh?” I did my best impression of a confused rock.

Katie sighed dramatically. “You asked when the next rest stop was. I went through a lot of trouble to find out what you wanted and all you can say is 'huh'? Honestly, you don’t even appreciate me, do you?”

She crossed her arms and turned her back to me.

I couldn’t help but smile. I was kind of tempted to leave her alone and see how long she lasted without talking. Not very long was my bet.

But I knew what she wanted and I willingly went along with her act. I poked her side a few times until she flopped around to look at me with a very weak glare.

Attempting to look cute, I worked my magic.

“Come on, Katieeee. Don’t be mad.” I blinked innocently, before sliding my arms around her. “You know how much I love you. I cannot possibly live without you!”

Katie relented immediately and slid her arms around me squeezing me in a warm hug, but I didn’t stop there.

“You are the reason for my existence. Without you, I don’t exist. My only purpose in life, is to love you forever and ever. Pray, never be mad at me darling, my poor heart cannot take it!”

Katie shoved me away, holding back her laughter.

“Oh, shut up.”

I broke into laughter, causing Katie to start howling too. Like a pair of rabid hyenas, we cackled for several minutes, unable to stop. Every time we caught the other’s eye, we broke down into laughter again. Only when my stomach began to cramp, I sat up straight, gulping in deep breaths, wiping the tears that had sprung to my eyes.

Katie punched my arm.

“Bitch.” She said affectionately. I smiled. “Back at ya.”

I put my earphones in and let my head rest on the window, only moving my shoulder to let Katie rest comfortably. I stared out the window, the scenery flying by. The ride was comfortable, other than the occasional speed bump. It was surprisingly easy to dose off, even with all the chatter surrounding us. 

It was past noon when someone shook us awake. We had reached the rest stop and were stopping for lunch.

Katie and I immediately bee lined for the restrooms. Sure, there were toilets on the bus, but I hadn’t used them, preferring to use the ones at the restaurants we’d stopped at.

There was a long queue, with many holding toiletry and make up bags. Luckily, I wasn’t in a hurry to use the bathroom and so Katie and I chatted with the girls in the line. Or well, Katie chatted and I nodded and smiled and attempted to look comfortable.

It took us nearly an hour to reach the bathroom and begin washing up. I hadn’t even known that there were so many girls in my graduating class. And everyone had split up, heading to different restaurants. If everyone had been here, I shuddered inside. I didn’t even want to imagine how long it would have taken. I didn’t want to stand by the stereotype that girls take longer to get ready, but unfortunately, I experienced it first hand for the first time today.

Being an early child, I never had to wait for a turn in the bathroom, and I had never been as thankful for that as I was today. 

Katie and I hurriedly finished our business in the bathroom, brushing our teeth and our hair quickly, before hurrying out of the crowded space. By the time we finished ordering our brunch, quite a few people had already finished eating and had left to walk around the town.

There weren’t any empty tables, so we joined one with two empty seats. I recognized the two girls as part of the group that Katie had talked to near the restrooms, though I wasn’t completely sure of their names. I knew one of the guys from junior high but not the other. I smiled in greeting and then focused on my lunch, not looking up as much as possible.

Our town had only one kindergarten, grade school and junior high for the longest time, so most of us had known each other forever. However, we shared our high school with the kids from the next town over, which is why we had so many students.

I timed my lunch to end at roughly the same time as Katie’s, something I had become an expert at throughout the years. I didn’t want to be eating when everyone had finished and I didn’t want to finish eating before everyone else and have to linger silently.

By the time Katie and I had finished our lunch, I confirmed that one of the girls was named Sarah and she was from our town. I hadn’t recognized her without the braces and glasses she’d had through grade school.

I felt kind of bad, knowing that I’d known her for almost my entire life, but was unable to recognize her. I had been pretty outgoing in kindergarten and grade school. The problem started in junior high. People started having sleepovers and parties and I had been invited at first, but when I never showed up to any of them, people slowly stopped inviting me. Not that I blamed them. Still, at the time, it was hard not to feel hurt.

And although I regret it now, I’d gotten into countless fights with my parents over these parties.

It continued to get worse. My classmates always talked about what happened last night at the sleepover or at the party. They talked about who had a crush on who and who kissed who. I hated feeling out of the loop (even though I was desperately out of the loop), so I learnt to excuse myself from the conversation- though Katie could always be relied upon to tell me all the gossip.

Of course, people split up into groups and cliques soon enough and the sleepovers petered out, but by then, I’d stopped talking to most of my classmates and they stopped bothering me.

In high school, it was easy to ignore and be ignored, especially with the influx of so many new students. New friendships and new relationships were made and broken- though I’d always always had Katie- a fact I was always supremely grateful for.

Sometimes, I wondered why she had stuck by me all these years. I mean, I wasn’t outrageously hilarious nor did I have any other outstanding qualities to recommend me as a good friend. I wasn’t even a very dependable best friend either.

I could be counted on to not be available to party or a trip to the mall or a movie or whatever else people did together. But she while she did have loads of other friends, she’d always counted me as her best friend, no matter what. Honestly, I’d always thought Katie was a gift I didn’t entirely deserve.

We barely fight, though there were a few memorable periods when we didn’t talk to each other for a while. They were almost always my fault though and I hated not talking to her, especially because she was the only one I really talked to.

The reason for the fight was mostly the same. I’d gotten jealous of the fact that she had so many other friends that she liked and spent time with- which I know is totally unfair- while I didn’t really have anyone else. It was just the fact that I felt left out a lot, and while I’d gotten used to it with other people, I hated feeling that way when I was with Katie.

I usually ended up being really mean to her when I was jealous and Katie would (understandably) get mad at me for suddenly being mean to her for absolutely no actual reason (that she knew of) and we ended up not talking to each other for a while. Katie was usually okay as she had other friends to talk to during these periods, but I didn’t have anyone, so I just ended up being jealous and mad at her all over again.

Katie, though, always proved how much of an actual angel she is. She always came back and started talking to me first- which is something I can never do, no matter how much I actually want to. I'm always too terrified I'd be rejected. The anger between us melts in seconds and its like the fight never happened. I don’t think either of us has ever explicitly apologized to the other, though I know I really should have for being unreasonably rude to her at times.

But apologizing to her would mean that I’d have to explain the reason I got angry and jealous and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to survive the embarrassment. She hadn’t asked after the first few times either. I mean, it’s pretty obvious to the both of us that I wasn’t the time to sit and talk about my feelings or whatever was hurting me. Still, I liked to think that maybe I’d apologize one day, like right before I croaked or something. I snorted at the thought.

There were still quite a few people looking for seats, so Katie and I finished eating quickly and got up to leave. I originally intended to wave goodbye, but I forgot I had a tray in my hands and almost ended up giving Sarah a trash shower, though I was able to prevent it with my amazing reflexes (ie, I barely managed to catch it). Sarah and the others were looking at me with frozen smiles. I mumbled my apology, flashed a smile at everyone in goodbye, mostly trying not to come of as a total b***h- which, by the way is like, my main goal in life- and just about ran out of there.

I put my tray back and walked out into the street. I stood to the side, my hands in my pockets, just breathing in deeply. The air here was really different from the air back home.

I looked back through the window to see that Katie was still saying her goodbyes at the table. I turned my back to the window.

I really hated the thought of people thinking of me being stuck up. I’d gone through that in junior high. I’d gone to birthday parties and the like in grade school, mainly because my mom or dad were able to come and chaperone. In junior high, when people started having unsupervised parties at the mall, or sleepovers, my parents had refused to send me, seeing as they wouldn’t be able to watch over me. Though they had tried to explain at the time, I hadn’t really listened, convinced my parents were out to ruin my life instead. I snorted at the memory. There had been several epic fights because of this. 

I still remembered them. I had been really really mean to my parents as a preteen. I’d never really be able to take that back, would I?

The worst time though was when I had missed Amy’s birthday sleepover. Amy was the most popular girl in junior high. She had specifically invited only a handful of people to her super special sleepover birthday party. I’d been stoked that I’d been invited to go, but predictably, my parents refused to let me go. I gave her the same excuse that I’d always given- which was my parents wouldn’t let me go. She started to yell at me- that I always made the same excuse and that I was lying and that I just thought I was better than everybody else. After that, people were mean to me for weeks. It was one of the worst times of my life. I’d overheard various girls gossiping about me several times and I cried loads of times because of them. Preteens had a lot of nastiness to make up for the lack of height.

After a while, they stopped gossiping all of a sudden, or maybe I just stopped hearing them. I also stopped attempting to talk to people after that. I’d rather my classmates thought I was shy, or even someone who had horribly underdeveloped social skills, but not as a b***h who thought that she was better than her classmates. A rather minor Life Goal, but I'd always tried my best.

The door opened and Katie stepped out, linking arms with me immediately. I smiled at the immediate warmth she brought with her. Both of us fell into step, aimlessly wandering around the small town. We had about an hour before the bus would set off again.

I remember the time I’d stopped talking to Katie in junior high. Or at least, I’d attempted to. It was during all the Amy drama.

I don’t remember if I was being altruistic- and saving her the trouble of having to cut off our friendship- or if I was just afraid that one day I’d hear Katie gossiping about me behind my back. Maybe it was a bit of both.

Luckily, Katie absolutely refused to let me pull away. Soon enough, people found something else to talk about. They stopped inviting me to things and I pretended I didn’t care and we all grew up from there. Still, I hadn’t grown out of not socializing- something I wasn’t really proud of. Though, truthfully, I was usually fine with just Katie by my side (other than the times when we had the occasional fight).

I wondered what kind of person I’d be in college. Maybe I’d metamorphosis into a social butterfly? Yeah, right. I couldn’t help laughing at the thought.

Who knew what the future held?

Katie and I began to walk back towards the buses. We’d be starting soon and we wanted to get our choice of seats. Katie and I consciously never talked about our colleges, something that seemed to be looming over us.

We’d both be off to different colleges. I was taking medicine and I knew I’d probably be too busy to sneeze soon. Katie got into her dream college and was getting a journalism degree. We’d both gotten into colleges we wanted to, but they were too far away from each other for us to meet with any regularity. Sure, we could Skype or Zoom, or whatever, but it wouldn’t be the same. Katie and I had been in each other’s pockets for nearly 14 years, since we met in kindergarten. I didn’t know how I would survive. I knew Katie would be fine. She always was. She was pretty and smart and made friends easily. I wasn’t so sure about myself.

Did I even know how to make friends anymore? I doubted it.

Katie elbowed my side. I jumped, scowling at her. She had stupidly pointy elbows.

“What?” I hissed, rubbing at my side.

“You tell me what.”

I looked at her in confusion. I followed her as we entered the bus again, settling into our seats.

“You’ve been sighing for the past fifteen minutes. I literally gave up on talking to you. Why do you keep getting lost in thoughts lately? You’ve never talked much, but this is getting ridiculous. We don’t even have much time left.” Katie stopped talking abruptly, clearly biting her tongue for bringing up our upcoming separation.

I smiled weakly. “Sorry. I was thinking about junior high.”

Katie wrinkled her eyebrows, before laughing.

“Really? That’s like the last thing I expected you to say.”

“I know right? I was suddenly reminded of the time after Amy’s sleepover.”

Katie sighed, rolling her eyes. “Why do you always remember such useless things?”

I snorted. “Don’t blame me. It’s not like I wanted to. I was thinking about college and suddenly I remembered how lonely I was in junior high. Or how lonely I would have been. Without you, I mean.”

I braced myself for the oncoming assault, biting back a smile when Katie predictably threw her arms around me in a tight hug.

“Don’t say things like that.” She drew back from her hug.

“You’re only lonely because you force yourself to be. And partially because of your parents. But in college, you can be whoever you want. With all the sudden freedom, I can totally see you going absolutely wild. You’ll probably have a few hundred one night stands in your first semester and show up hungover to class and whatnot. You’ll probably end up getting kicked out of college. It’s always the repressed and quiet ones you have to watch out for, you know.”

She smirked knowingly at me. I punched her arm for all her troubles.

“So that’s what you think about me, huh?” I pulled back from the half hug she still had me in, crossing my arms. “I’m not repressed or quiet." I kind of was, though. "Besides, how many is a few hundred?”

Katie shrugged thoughtfully. “More than one hundred? I can totally see your bedpost. It’ll have so many notches people will think it’s a new design.”

We broke down giggling.

“Shut up.”

Katie suddenly sobered up.

“I take it back. You won’t have all those one night stands with desperate college boys because you’re going to find your soul mate tomorrow night.”

I rolled my eyes. Back to square one apparently.

“Don’t be ridiculous. If I was going to meet my soul mate, I should be having dreams of him. The only dreams I’ve been having are the ones of the temple. I could probably walk through it with my eyes closed. I mean, unless my soul mate is the temple, I don’t think I’m going to find my soul mate there.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. All the people who have found there soul mates there said they had dreams about it.”

“Exactly. Dreams about meeting the person at the temple. Meanwhile, yours truly has dreams about the interior of the temple and all the wolf statues in there.”

“Maybe, your soul mate is a werewolf that has been turned to stone because of a curse. Like maybe, he offended a witch or a goddess or something. He’s been stuck that way for thousands of years, waiting for you. Your presence in the temple will free him from the curse and turn him back to a human. Beauty and the Beast style, you know.”

I fended off another pointy elbow to my side.

“Are you sure you should be a journalist when this is what your brain comes up with? I pity your readers. Maybe you should try fiction writing, instead. It seems more your speed.”

“Hey!” Katie whisper-screeched. I simply smirked at her outrage. “You take that back.” She glared at me. I stuck my tongue out at her, quickly pulling it back in when Katie attempted to catch it.

“Don’t be gross.”

Katie shrugged. “Your tongue is a mean little shit.” She sniffed imperiously, crossing her arms and turning her nose up at me, only to turn back towards me and push the window open.

“What are you doing. It’ll be cold when they start driving.”

“Keep it open. My nose forgot the smell with the three hours of fresh air and now it’s rebelling.”

I laughed, though she was right. The fresh air from the window was incredibly refreshing.

Katie rested her head on my shoulder and we both sat quietly with our faces turned to the window. I vaguely heard more and more students get on the bus. The last thing I remember was the sound of the bus starting.